webster



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

W. s. WEBSTER. I

. A SADDLE TREE. No. 347,672. Patented Aug. 17, 1886.

Q c: v I \LU' I 3 v O OOOQOO 5%[715'] V l|\|\/ENTO R $0 ffiff/hhr w (No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 2, W. S. WEBSTER.

SADDLE TREE. No. 347,672. Patented Aug. 17, 1886.

IIIIIII/IIII/IIIIII/la PIC-3.6.-

WILLIAM S. vYVEBSTER, OF NEWARK, NEW

JERSEY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO THE PETERS & CALHOUN COMPANY.

SADDLE-TREE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 347,672, dated August 17, 1886.

Application filed January 30, 1886. Serial No. 190,275.

(No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM S. WEBsTER, a citizen of the United States, residing in Newark, Essex county, New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Saddle-Trees, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

This invention relates to an improved means I I0 of stiffening the skirt of the saddle and the back-band loop, and to a guard for the backband in thearch of the saddle; and it consists, partly, in a particular construction for an offset stiffener formed integral with the saddletree, and partlyin the combination, with the arch of the saddle-tree and a recess or channel sunk therein to admit the back-band, of a lug extended from the rein-hook seat over such recess, and an opening in the arch of the tree to admit the application of a nut to the shank of the rein-hook.

In my invention the skirt is applied partly below and partly above the top surface of the tree, the stiffener being offset for such purpose, and the skirt being provided at its mid dle with an opening to permit the passage of such stiffener through the skirt from above, and its adjustment upon the under side of the same in connection with the back-band 100p.

To permit the introduction of the stiffener through an opening in the skirt, the stiffener is made considerably narrower than the tree, to avoid too wide an opening through the skirt. I

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan of the tree. Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal section of the same. Fig. 3 is a flat view of the top of onehalf of the tree. Fig. 4 is a central transverse section of the tree with the stiffener 0 broken off. Fig. 5 is a top view similar to Fig. 3, with the skirt, the backhand, and back-band loop applied to the tree, the skirt and back-band being broken off adjacent to the end of the stiffener. Fig. 6 is a plan of 4 the skirt shown in Fig. 5; and Fig. 7 is 'a central longitudinal section of the parts shownin Fig. 5, excepting the back-band, which is shown, but not in section.

A is the arch of the tree, and'A a channel formed therein. Bis the bow of the tree; 0,

the flanges or stiffeners attached to its ends by ribs 0', and D and D tongues formed u pon the lower ends of the stiifeners.

E is the crupper-loop, and F the hole for the shank of the rein-hook. G is the backhand. (Shown only in dotted linesin Fig. 4.)

a is a lug projected from the rein-hook seat over the recess A, to hold the back-band in place, and I is an opening formed in the arch of the tree beneath such lug and in the front side of the channel. to clear the nutapplied to the shank of the rein-hook. It is evident that by means of such opening, the same may be cast without a core by the admission of the molding-sand through the opening I into contact with the under side of the lug a, when molding and casting the tree. The ribs 0, as shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 7, are attached to the under side of the bow and to the upper side of the stiffener, at the extreme outer edges of the latter, where it is joined to the bow, thus offsetting the stiffener, or holding it below the top of the bow. The stii'i'eners being connected with the bow only at the edges of their upper ends, an opening, 0, is formed between each of such upper ends and the lower ends of the bow, through which the back-band can be passed, as shown in Fig. 7, when making up the saddle in the style there displayed. The ribs are also very short, so as to project but little through the skirt when fitted over the same.

J is the skirt, and is formed, as shown in Fig. 6, with an opening, it, to permit the passage of the stiffener through the skirt from the upper to the lower side, and Z are openings adapted to receive the ribs 0, so that the skirt may lie flat upon the stiffeners with the tongue m (which is formed by the slots Z) inserted between the said ribs. The stiffeners are oifset, as shown in Fig. 7, so that the skirt may lie beneath the bar B,when the saddle is trimmed for a running back-band, the lug a in such case serving to hold the back-band down in 5 the arch of the tree, as shown in Fig. 4.

The stiffener is, in such case, passed through the openings 70 H, the former admitting the backband, as shown in Fig. 7, and the latter accommodating the ribs 0'. The stiff- I00 ener is formed with three tongues D D and D at its outer end, the latter being located at the middle of the stiffener and adapted to pass within the under side of the leather back-band loop H. The tongues D lie at each side of the back-band loop, beneath the skirt, and serve to stiffen the latter independently of the tongue D. The loop is formed as a closed collar, its sides being passed through slots I) in the skirt J in the usual manner, before the ends of the loops are sewed together, and when the back-band and the tongue D are inserted within said loop the skirt is clamped firmly between said backband and stiffener, and the stiffener, being thus held firmly to the bow B, serves to strengthen them all in the most effectual manner. The tongue D is represented as lightened by forming a slot, 0, therein, as shown in Fig. 3; but this slot is not essential.

I am aware that it is not new to clamp the end of the stiffener to the skirt by means of the loop, and do not therefore claim such a construction, except in combination with the side tongues, D, which are held against the skirt by the operation of the loop upon the central tongue, D.

I am also aware of United States Patent No.115,599, showing a skirt with openings like mine, to fit it, within pockets formed in the sides of the bow, and against-a lockformed by projections upon the under side of the how. The openings it 1 Z in my skirt have no such function, as I have no such pockets nor projections on my tree.

I am also aware of United States Patent No. 144,853, showing a pad-plate provided with three tongues at the end to engage a metallic brace on the pad.

I do not use any padplate in my construction, and I therefore disclaim both the abovenamed patents.

The stiffener shown herein differs from that claimed in my United States Patent No. 337 217, in not being combined with a sunken channel in the bows, andin not having inclined ribs extended continuously along a sunken channel to the end of the stiffener.

Having thus described my invention, I claim the same in the following manner:

1. The saddle-tree constructed with the bow 13 and the stiffener 0, made narrower than the bow, and connected therewith only at the upper edges by the inclined ribs 0. leaving an opening, 0, for the insertion of the backband, the stiffener being held in a different plane from the ends of the how by the inclined ribs, and being provided at their lower ends with the central tongue, D, and the side tongues, D, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The eombination,with the skirt provided with the openings k and Z Z, as described, of the tree having the bow inserted, as set forth, the offset stiffeners connected thereto and held in a different plane by the inclined ribs 0, and the stiffeners being provided with the tongues D and D, and inserted through the openings in the skirt, as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The saddle-tree having a depressed channel in the arch for a running backhand, the lug (1, extended over said channel, and the opening I in the arch beneath the lug, as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY J. MILLER, HENRY J. THEBERATH. 

